Casino cash pays for five new O'odham rec centers

Victoria Pablo doesn't mince words when describing the softball fields she grew up with.

"Dirt fields, no lights," she said. "You had to play early in the morning to avoid the heat."

On the Tohono O'odham Nation's reservation southwest of Tucson, that's just how life was. None of the Nation's fields came with lights, so games and practices followed the sun -- sometimes with grueling perseverance.

All of that has changed in the past week with the opening of two recreation centers that come with a number of amenities, but perhaps none more welcome than playing fields with stadium lighting.

The first center opened Aug. 12 in Sells, the Tohono O'odham capital. Saturday, the San Xavier Recreation Center opened after two years of construction. In the coming weeks three more centers -- also with lighted fields -- will open on the reservation's western half. The five centers cost a total of about $19 million and were paid for with casino profits.

Pablo grew up playing softball and basketball, and her love of sports evolved into a job with the Nation's Recreation Division.

Now 31, she serves as its program coordinator and emceed Saturday's opening ceremony.

The thought of the Nation's next generation playing beneath lights brought her to tears.

She likened the teams she once played on as second families; her coaches, parental figures.

"They were the parents away from home," she said. "Our coaches reminded us of the values of teamwork, working together and how to take care of each other."

The center is an extension of that tradition, she said.

Along with the softball and soccer/football fields, the center -- a half-mile south of San Xavier Mission -- is equipped with a pool, a basketball court, a computer room, a kitchen, trails and an exercise room.

District Chairman Austin Nunez said he hopes the center will foster health -- spiritual, mental and physical -- throughout the Nation.

"My hopes are that our people will really take care of their personal well-being," he said.

The Nation spans about 2.8 million acres and as of 2000 had a population of about 24,000 people, according to the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.

The San Xavier District is just outside Tucson and about 60 miles from Sells at the fringe of the reservation. Nunez said that location makes his district prone to gangs, drugs and alcohol use.

"We're walking the razor's edge between the non-Indian and the O'odham community," he said.

He hoped the new building, coupled with a nearby education center and some new housing, could "stem the tide of negative influences."

Pablo agreed, adding that she saw it as a place to connect the past to the present.

To prove her point, she recalled the unlit fields she grew up with.

"These kids can't experience that," she said. "But hopefully they'll appreciate it."